High Gemini Prairie Restoration

Continuing its mission of land stewardship, the Abbey Arboretum has begun work restoring former farm land behind West Gemini Lake into native prairie grassland. The 12-acre plot was planted in June 2008 with 180 pounds of pure live grass seed (PLS) containing 7 different species of grass, 108 pounds of oats, and 18 pounds of forbs seed containing 44 different species of prairie plants.

In order to test the success of two different planting methods, the East half of the new prairie was planted using a Vicon seed broadcaster at 20 pounds PLS per acre, and a Truax drill was used for the West half at 10 pounds PLS per acre.